Steel wool product



June 26, 1951 R. HAGEN' 2,558,682

STEEL WOOL PRODUCT Filed Aug. 19, 1949 fnvenfor' Jig Elf/4.427122 Hagan @"MZM a? Patented June 26, 1,951

STEEL WOOL PRODUCT Leif Richard Hagen, Oslo, Norway, assignor to Norsk Stalull A/S, Oslo, Norway Application August 19, 1949, Serial No. 111,169 In Norway June 21, 1949 2 Claims.

This invention relates to a metallic wool product, such as steel wool. It is well known that steel wool is an effective cleaning or polishing agent. However, when steel wool is used in the form of a loose mass of steel wool fibres arranged as lumps, pads, or bands which may be easily subdivided, it has the disadvantage of readily disintegrating in use.

An object of the present invention is to provide a steel wool product consisting of more or less parallel adjacent steel wool fibres that are spun, twisted, braided or in other suitable manner united or interengaged to form a rope, cord or line, which has a tensile strength of its own, so that the product is not pulled or torn to pieces by a stress exerted in the longitudinal direction of said rope, cord or line. In this manner there is obtained a quiet novel article of manufacture, which is adapted for several uses. Thus, it may be utilised for the cleaning or polishing of different bodies. By way of example, such metallic wool rope may be passed once or several times about a tube and used to clean said tube by reciprocating or rotating the rope around the tube.

The metallic wool product according to the invention may be manufactured in different manners. Steel wool is generally produced in the form of or strips consisting of parallelly extending more or less continuous fibres, and according to the invention such steel wool bands may-in a manner known per sebe spun, twisted, braided or in any other suitable manner united to form rope or strip, which in itself has sufficient strength to be used for cleaning or polishing operations.

The rope or strip may be produced by uniting or combining only steel wool fibres, or the steel wool fibres may be spun, wound or braided or in other manner united around a longitudinal reinforcing core, the latter consisting of any material suitable for the purpose, for example a textile cord or an iron or steel wire. Further it is possible to use a mixture of steel wool fibres and other fibres, such as fibres of jute or hemp.

When the steel wool strips, with or without added material such as a core or additional foreign fibres, are wound around a core, the winding operation in accordance with the invention is so effected that the difi'erent layers are spirally wound around the core in different directions. The strips may, if desired, be so wound that one edge of a strip will overlap the other edge of the same strip. In order that the completed product shall as compact as possible it may be compacted, for example by being rolled, after the strips are wound on the core.

The drawing illustrates by way of example how the metallic wool product of the invention, which is in the form of a rope of steel wool, may be manufactured by spirally winding strips 2 of steel wool around a core. The strips of successive layers are spirally wound in opposite directions. The core I is moved from the left to the right, as seen on the drawing, and during such movement the core is wound with strips 2 of steel wool, which in successive layers have a right and a left hand spiral. Such a number of strips 2 are wound on the core I as will provide the desired thickness of the final rope 3. As previously mentioned, the completed rope may be subjected to compression, for example by being passed between rollers, in order to obtain a desired density.

I claim:

1. As an article of manufacture, a metallic wool product comprising a core, and a plurality of metallic wool layers formed of strips of metallic wool wound spirally about said core, the strips of successive layers being spirally Wound in opposite directions.

2. As an article of manufacture, a metallic wool product comprising a core, and a plurality of metallic wool layers formed of strips of metallic wool wound spirally about said core, the strips of successive layers being spirally wound in opposite directions, and one edge of the strips overlapping the other edge of the same strip.

LEIF RICHARD I-IAGEN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,012,031 Underwood Dec. 19, 1911 1,772,016 Robbins Aug. 5, 1930 1,779,771 Hartwell Oct. 28, 1930 2,164,286 Stybr June 27, 1939 

